Management Turnover as Change Agent

Monday, January 7, 2008

More Sub-Prime Fallout - CIBC

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CIBC CM (TSX) a company racked with financial and management difficulties announced today that Brian Shaw, chief executive officer of CIBC World Markets, would be replaced by TSX Group Inc. CEO Richard Nesbitt. The bank's Chief Financial Officer Tom Woods would replace Ken Kilgour as risk officer. The bank has had a huge exposure to sub-prime debt and had to act. According to a Streetwise blog story from Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper,

Unlike Citigroup and Merrill Lynch directors, the CIBC board did not hold Mr. McCaughey (the CEO) accountable for the bank’s still-to-be-quantified sub-prime loses, with Mr. Kilgore and Mr. Shaw leaving in the wake of this hit. Directors now need to be asking whether the new executive team will be more adapt at steering clear of accidents.

According to a piece by Jonathan Ratner in today's Canada's Financial Post,

Dundee Securities analyst John Aiken said he was one of many that believed more management changes were needed at CIBC after an apparent disruption in its risk management policies led to an “incremental, outsized exposure to U.S. subprime real estate.”

It remains unclear whether the new management team is up to the job to straighten out the problems facing the bank. Stay tuned.

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